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Murder on the Verandah - Love and Betrayal in British Malaya
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320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 28, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2024
I'm not sure how I missed this excellent "True Crime" story, which is actually a solidly researched look into Edwardian colonial society in British Malaya. I found it while researching the background of Don Boyd's 1977 film, East of Elephant Rock, made some 23 years before Lawlor's book was published. The crime story, which relates the trial and aftermath of the Ethel Proudlock case, and which forms the inspiration for Boyd's film, actually bookends a much more interesting glimpse of how a relatively small number of British colonials lived in Kuala Lumpur during the first decade or so of the twentieth century. This is the society in which Ethel and her husband, William, lived and worked. And where Ethel had an affair with William Steward, which resulted in her emptying a pistol into his head just off the Proudlock's bungalow's verandah.
That's the hook for the story. Much more interesting to me is how Lawlor breaks down British colonial society. The British end up being pictured as a miserable bunch. These colonials are, he says, "low-rent" individuals of inferior intellect and cultural obtuseness. They hate Malaya, its heat and humidity, its people, and the fact that it's not Great Britain. Their only purpose is to get rich and hope to go back home. This is in contrast to the first generation of British colonials in Malaya during the latter part of the nineteenth century, who Lawlor says were true adventurers and eccentrics. So we end up seeing how the British were bored to tears, took to drink, tyrannized their servants, enjoyed a state of mutual animosity between them and the Chinese, and eschewed cultural enlightenment, even as they complained about its absence. What the British sought to do, according to Lawlor, is reconstruct suburban London and avoid everything else to do with Malaya.
I must say as an American living in Thailand that this all sounds familiar. Expatriates in Bangkok, in particular, seem to have carried on the tradition of their earlier colonial cousins. Among English speaking expatriates in Thailand, it is British retirees who make up the largest number. Go online and roll through their postings to expatriate forums, and they read little different from the moaning and complaining Lawlor outlines. They complain about the weather, have contempt for the Thais and their culture, panic when Buddhist holidays put a two or three day ban on the sale of alcohol, live in farang (foreigner) ghettoes, and probably most hilariously of all constantly are on the lookout for British food and groceries--just like Edwardian British colonials in Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say, coming to Southeast Asia and insisting on British cuisine (one of the worst in the world) is like travelling to French vineyards so you can drink Coca Cola.
This is not only a good book. It's valuable, something that I'll incorporate into my own writing on the region and its films and media.
That's the hook for the story. Much more interesting to me is how Lawlor breaks down British colonial society. The British end up being pictured as a miserable bunch. These colonials are, he says, "low-rent" individuals of inferior intellect and cultural obtuseness. They hate Malaya, its heat and humidity, its people, and the fact that it's not Great Britain. Their only purpose is to get rich and hope to go back home. This is in contrast to the first generation of British colonials in Malaya during the latter part of the nineteenth century, who Lawlor says were true adventurers and eccentrics. So we end up seeing how the British were bored to tears, took to drink, tyrannized their servants, enjoyed a state of mutual animosity between them and the Chinese, and eschewed cultural enlightenment, even as they complained about its absence. What the British sought to do, according to Lawlor, is reconstruct suburban London and avoid everything else to do with Malaya.
I must say as an American living in Thailand that this all sounds familiar. Expatriates in Bangkok, in particular, seem to have carried on the tradition of their earlier colonial cousins. Among English speaking expatriates in Thailand, it is British retirees who make up the largest number. Go online and roll through their postings to expatriate forums, and they read little different from the moaning and complaining Lawlor outlines. They complain about the weather, have contempt for the Thais and their culture, panic when Buddhist holidays put a two or three day ban on the sale of alcohol, live in farang (foreigner) ghettoes, and probably most hilariously of all constantly are on the lookout for British food and groceries--just like Edwardian British colonials in Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say, coming to Southeast Asia and insisting on British cuisine (one of the worst in the world) is like travelling to French vineyards so you can drink Coca Cola.
This is not only a good book. It's valuable, something that I'll incorporate into my own writing on the region and its films and media.
May 4, 2023
The title is misleading and promises a sensationalist read. In fact, only part of this fascinating book is dedicated to the “Murder on the Verandah” . The reason why this murder shook the expat community out of its stupor and even made waves back in England was that “one of us” (Ethel Proudlock) had murdered “one of us” (William Steward). Malayan, Indian or Chinese lives didn’t count for much, they were routinely mistreated, abused and even killed but a white person killing another white person was on a totally different scale.
While this was all interesting enough, the best part of the book is the wider look at British society in Malaya at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century, the tin mining and the rubber boom. With few exceptions, the British hated the country and the locals, especially the Chinese; they hated the jungle and the climate, the wild animals and the creepy crawlies; they never mixed with Asians, never learned any of the languages and never took an interest in the local culture. Instead, they spent their unspeakably monotonous, stifling lives trying to ignore their surroundings, eating English food, planting English gardens, wearing English dress and keeping up the rigid class distinctions. The men drowned their boredom in alcohol, the women wasted their time in idle gossip and complaints about the servants. Only a precious few made their stay in Malaya worthwhile, the rest of them counted the days until they could return to an England which they idealised and embellished until it bore no resemblance to the real thing.
While this was all interesting enough, the best part of the book is the wider look at British society in Malaya at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century, the tin mining and the rubber boom. With few exceptions, the British hated the country and the locals, especially the Chinese; they hated the jungle and the climate, the wild animals and the creepy crawlies; they never mixed with Asians, never learned any of the languages and never took an interest in the local culture. Instead, they spent their unspeakably monotonous, stifling lives trying to ignore their surroundings, eating English food, planting English gardens, wearing English dress and keeping up the rigid class distinctions. The men drowned their boredom in alcohol, the women wasted their time in idle gossip and complaints about the servants. Only a precious few made their stay in Malaya worthwhile, the rest of them counted the days until they could return to an England which they idealised and embellished until it bore no resemblance to the real thing.
December 5, 2021
Banyak juga yang saya pelajari dari helaian-helaian buku Murder on the Verandah ini. Antaranya perangai tidak 'semonggah' Britons yang seperti 'dikerah' untuk ke Malaya oleh kerajaan mereka, atau oleh majikan mereka. Timeline keadaan semasa dan cerita dalam buku ini kebanyakannya awal tahun 1900. Pembunuhan William Steward oleh Ethel Proudlock berlaku 23 April 1911. Saya lihat penulis kerap quote pelbagai sumber terutama The Planter, Maugham, Mail dan beberapa penulis buku lain serta beberapa penama lain. Sewaktu membaca, memang ada beberapa pandangan yang saya fikir nak catatkan namun sekarang sudah tidak berapa ingat. Yang pali saya ingat ialah rasa menyampah dengan sikap orang imperial ni yang merasakan mereka bagus sangat. Orang "'China Man' sangat tidak disukai malah dibenci oleh ramai orang puteh waktu itu. Ramai juga orang puteh takut dengan 'China Man' di Malaya zaman itu denan banyak juga kes mereka di ambush oleh geng China Man dan slit throat saja hukumnya. Penulis kongsikan pandangan kebanyakan orang puteh yang memandang China Man sebagai samseng yang tak mahu dengar kata, dengan perangai pengotor suka meludah sana sini dan kuat menipu. "The Chinese the British liked least were the rickshaw pullers. 'The coolie who pulls the rickshaw is about the most unpleasant scoundrel who ever came out of the underworld of Canton'. Arthur Keyser wrote. With his copper-coloured skin, his blue shorts, and his wide-brimmed hat, he looks picturesque. Keyser went on, 'but there his beauty ends. He is an inveterate gambler and opium smoker with one aim and object in life: to make money by fair or foul means. He is surly and hates work.'" (ms 221)
Saya ada earmarked beberapa yang saya fikir menarik. "As Cecil Rodes once put it, imperialism was philanthropy plus a 5 per cent dividend on investment".
"'When you tread the soil of a country and live beneath its skies,' says a Malay proverb, 'follow the customs of that country'." (ms 233) Ini perkara yang Britons zaman tu tidak reti buat. Mereka datang ke Malaya dengan hidung tinggi, berharap ingin kaya dan terkenal tetapi langsung tidak mahu belajar bahasa orang sini, adat orang sini. Sebab itu kata penulis berdasarkan sumber-sumbernya, Britons zaman awal 1900 tu ramai yang tertekan dan hidup tidak keruan, kebosanan tahap extreme hingga da yang bunuh diri. Ditambah lagi dengan cuaca dan pelbagai jenis wabak penyakit, masak lah mereka.
Yang bawah ni saya suka.
"While the Dutch (Dutch East Indies, rasa saya dimaksudkan yang ketika itu menjajah Indonesia) had their faults, some of them major, they proved more adaptable than the British.Having left Holland, they did not make a fetish of nostalgia. Not being as culturally rigid, they did not isolate themselves. They adopted local dress, ate local food, took local mistresses, and spoke at least one local language. And they had interests. 'The Dutchman talks of language, history, music, art.' (R.O.) Winstedt said. 'The Englishman, playing for safety ... talks of games and horses.' The Dutch, in short, made the best of things. The British did not. For many of them, their lives in Malaya were joyless and constrained - enough to drive anyone to suicide. There was something else as well. The British did not kill themselves only because they have failed; they killed themselves because they were not supposed to fail. What proved their undoing was their own hyperbole."
Baca yang bawah ni ya... berdasarkan paragraph sebelum dan yang di bawah, rasa rasa penulis pun meluat dengan perangai egoistik dan berlagak sombong orang puteh di Malaya awal 1900.
"If the Briton was all capable, why was he not able to rout those white ants? (*nota Yazlina, perlu cari makna tersirat white ants ni). If he took everything in his stride, why was it that he could not cope? If he was self-sufficient, why did he feel so lonely? What did that mean? Just this: that he was a very poor specimen indeed.; a Briton not deserving of the name." (ms 208-209).
Pendek cerita, bertolak dari buku ini, saya berminat untuk cari dan baca pula buku-buku yang ditulis oleh mat saleh lain berkenaan dengan pendudukan Britons di Malaya era akhir 1800 dan awal 1900, buku-buku atau article seperti 'The Letter' yang ditulis oleh Somerset Maugham.
Berbalik kepada buku, rupanya tidak banyak cerita mengenai pembunuhan Steward oleh Ethel. Gambar Ethel pun tiada dalam buku ni.
Saya ada earmarked beberapa yang saya fikir menarik. "As Cecil Rodes once put it, imperialism was philanthropy plus a 5 per cent dividend on investment".
"'When you tread the soil of a country and live beneath its skies,' says a Malay proverb, 'follow the customs of that country'." (ms 233) Ini perkara yang Britons zaman tu tidak reti buat. Mereka datang ke Malaya dengan hidung tinggi, berharap ingin kaya dan terkenal tetapi langsung tidak mahu belajar bahasa orang sini, adat orang sini. Sebab itu kata penulis berdasarkan sumber-sumbernya, Britons zaman awal 1900 tu ramai yang tertekan dan hidup tidak keruan, kebosanan tahap extreme hingga da yang bunuh diri. Ditambah lagi dengan cuaca dan pelbagai jenis wabak penyakit, masak lah mereka.
Yang bawah ni saya suka.
"While the Dutch (Dutch East Indies, rasa saya dimaksudkan yang ketika itu menjajah Indonesia) had their faults, some of them major, they proved more adaptable than the British.Having left Holland, they did not make a fetish of nostalgia. Not being as culturally rigid, they did not isolate themselves. They adopted local dress, ate local food, took local mistresses, and spoke at least one local language. And they had interests. 'The Dutchman talks of language, history, music, art.' (R.O.) Winstedt said. 'The Englishman, playing for safety ... talks of games and horses.' The Dutch, in short, made the best of things. The British did not. For many of them, their lives in Malaya were joyless and constrained - enough to drive anyone to suicide. There was something else as well. The British did not kill themselves only because they have failed; they killed themselves because they were not supposed to fail. What proved their undoing was their own hyperbole."
Baca yang bawah ni ya... berdasarkan paragraph sebelum dan yang di bawah, rasa rasa penulis pun meluat dengan perangai egoistik dan berlagak sombong orang puteh di Malaya awal 1900.
"If the Briton was all capable, why was he not able to rout those white ants? (*nota Yazlina, perlu cari makna tersirat white ants ni). If he took everything in his stride, why was it that he could not cope? If he was self-sufficient, why did he feel so lonely? What did that mean? Just this: that he was a very poor specimen indeed.; a Briton not deserving of the name." (ms 208-209).
Pendek cerita, bertolak dari buku ini, saya berminat untuk cari dan baca pula buku-buku yang ditulis oleh mat saleh lain berkenaan dengan pendudukan Britons di Malaya era akhir 1800 dan awal 1900, buku-buku atau article seperti 'The Letter' yang ditulis oleh Somerset Maugham.
Berbalik kepada buku, rupanya tidak banyak cerita mengenai pembunuhan Steward oleh Ethel. Gambar Ethel pun tiada dalam buku ni.
February 28, 2021
The booksleeve had this to say :
"During the first half of the century the British ruled Malaya with an unhealthy blend of devout suburban aspiration and gross insensitivity to the native population, something far from the love-hate relationship that characterized the European in India. Petty, hypocritical and generally terribly unhappy , the British- as described by Somerset Maugham - never counted Malaya as home and spent their time wishing they weren't there."
Lawlor writes and he makes social history commentaries on the happenings of Ethel Proudlock's murder trial case in 1911 as well as the society in KL and the peninsular Malaya during boom times of tin, rubber and commerce. He comments on the social divide between the British government servant and the British planters. Also by way of many collected reference to newspapers as the Malay Mail, the Planter and the Times of Malaya, he pieced a convincing narrative of the FMS and the Straits settlement in those days.
As he follows Ethel's trial and ends up finding Dorothy (Ethel's daughter) in Florida, Lawlor gave an account of how the British life in Malaya was "hot and difficult" that was continuously complained about; although these Brits led an upper class life in reality ...(The more typical British household had as many as eight servants : a head 'boy', a cook, a driver, a water carrier , a gardener, a dhoby, a nanny and a person whose job it was to clean.) Yet there is a chapter called "Tragic Wives" !
He also discussed the divide and rule policy of those in power in British Malaya and how the British collectively viewed the Malay Royalty, the Malays, the Chinamen and the Indian Tamils; the last who if ran away to escape the difficult life of hardship as labourers fared no better in the jungle, often being eaten by tigers.
Many characters that we know are mentioned in this book - Winstead, Gullick and Swettenham. There is mention of the Sultan of Johor and how To' Janggut when killed, the Brits gave the order that his body was to be suspended by the feet from a lamp post.
A good read for a weekend.
"During the first half of the century the British ruled Malaya with an unhealthy blend of devout suburban aspiration and gross insensitivity to the native population, something far from the love-hate relationship that characterized the European in India. Petty, hypocritical and generally terribly unhappy , the British- as described by Somerset Maugham - never counted Malaya as home and spent their time wishing they weren't there."
Lawlor writes and he makes social history commentaries on the happenings of Ethel Proudlock's murder trial case in 1911 as well as the society in KL and the peninsular Malaya during boom times of tin, rubber and commerce. He comments on the social divide between the British government servant and the British planters. Also by way of many collected reference to newspapers as the Malay Mail, the Planter and the Times of Malaya, he pieced a convincing narrative of the FMS and the Straits settlement in those days.
As he follows Ethel's trial and ends up finding Dorothy (Ethel's daughter) in Florida, Lawlor gave an account of how the British life in Malaya was "hot and difficult" that was continuously complained about; although these Brits led an upper class life in reality ...(The more typical British household had as many as eight servants : a head 'boy', a cook, a driver, a water carrier , a gardener, a dhoby, a nanny and a person whose job it was to clean.) Yet there is a chapter called "Tragic Wives" !
He also discussed the divide and rule policy of those in power in British Malaya and how the British collectively viewed the Malay Royalty, the Malays, the Chinamen and the Indian Tamils; the last who if ran away to escape the difficult life of hardship as labourers fared no better in the jungle, often being eaten by tigers.
Many characters that we know are mentioned in this book - Winstead, Gullick and Swettenham. There is mention of the Sultan of Johor and how To' Janggut when killed, the Brits gave the order that his body was to be suspended by the feet from a lamp post.
A good read for a weekend.
August 15, 2017
the reason to read the book is for historical background on the great Noir film "The Letter" (1940) starring Miss Bette Davis. you will quench your curiosity for the true crime (1911) on which master storyteller Somerset Maugham based his short story and play (1927). you will also realize how Maugham selected and altered details, skillfully weaving his tale.
Eric Lawlor's plodding prose does the job but he doesn't know how to weave, he just spits out facts. then there are huge chunks, entire chapters of "facts" about Empire that are neither here nor there, so you skip them. it's about 66% padding, but i give it 2 stars because i was thrilled to read about the actual case.
Eric Lawlor's plodding prose does the job but he doesn't know how to weave, he just spits out facts. then there are huge chunks, entire chapters of "facts" about Empire that are neither here nor there, so you skip them. it's about 66% padding, but i give it 2 stars because i was thrilled to read about the actual case.
July 2, 2023
This was an interesting read and I suspect it might get a bit more attention since the release of Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors, as it is used as a historical source in that wonderful novel.
Murder on the Verandah provides an in-depth look at the Ethel Proudlock murder case, which took place in British Malaya in 1911. The case was the inspiration for Somerset Maugham's short story The Letter.
Readers should be aware that there doesn't seem to be enough information available on the Proudlock case to sustain a full length book and Murder on the Verandah instead provides information available on the case and then provides a deep dive into British Malayan society from the late 1800s to the 1930s. This helps situate the case into the society and world of the murder and the consequences faced by the Proudlocks in the aftermath. Lawlor analyzes the food, leisure time, drinking habits, reading preferences (or lack thereof), societal attitudes, and more of the British in Malaysia during this time period. Spoiler alert...he doesn't much like them.
This was fine for me as I like deep-dives into the worlds that I read about, but it may not be for every reader. The book reads a bit more like a historical monograph about the larger world of British Malaya than it does a true crime book, so just keep that in mind.
I enjoyed the book, but since it does read more like an academic work than casual reading, I do have some small criticisms. At least in the Kindle version that I read, there are no footnotes and no references from where the author is getting his information. Nothing is cited and there are no options for further reading or to do your own research. This becomes frustrating when the author makes definite statements about behavior or actions about Ethel and the case and I have no idea where he is getting this information from. If this was an actual academic work, that would be a larger issue for me, but it isn't...even though it does tend to read that way, so I'm giving it a bit of a pass. Somewhat related, the author frequently interjects his own opinion on the people he is writing about. This took me out of the book a bit because the tone of the book tends to be largely based on historical research (that we can't see and thus can't confirm) and then turns into personal statements about the motives or character of the people he is discussing. It is just a bit weird when it happens.
Overall, I enjoyed the book.
Murder on the Verandah provides an in-depth look at the Ethel Proudlock murder case, which took place in British Malaya in 1911. The case was the inspiration for Somerset Maugham's short story The Letter.
Readers should be aware that there doesn't seem to be enough information available on the Proudlock case to sustain a full length book and Murder on the Verandah instead provides information available on the case and then provides a deep dive into British Malayan society from the late 1800s to the 1930s. This helps situate the case into the society and world of the murder and the consequences faced by the Proudlocks in the aftermath. Lawlor analyzes the food, leisure time, drinking habits, reading preferences (or lack thereof), societal attitudes, and more of the British in Malaysia during this time period. Spoiler alert...he doesn't much like them.
This was fine for me as I like deep-dives into the worlds that I read about, but it may not be for every reader. The book reads a bit more like a historical monograph about the larger world of British Malaya than it does a true crime book, so just keep that in mind.
I enjoyed the book, but since it does read more like an academic work than casual reading, I do have some small criticisms. At least in the Kindle version that I read, there are no footnotes and no references from where the author is getting his information. Nothing is cited and there are no options for further reading or to do your own research. This becomes frustrating when the author makes definite statements about behavior or actions about Ethel and the case and I have no idea where he is getting this information from. If this was an actual academic work, that would be a larger issue for me, but it isn't...even though it does tend to read that way, so I'm giving it a bit of a pass. Somewhat related, the author frequently interjects his own opinion on the people he is writing about. This took me out of the book a bit because the tone of the book tends to be largely based on historical research (that we can't see and thus can't confirm) and then turns into personal statements about the motives or character of the people he is discussing. It is just a bit weird when it happens.
Overall, I enjoyed the book.
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